On July 21, 1861, in the first major land battle of the Civil War,
a large Union force under General Irvin McDowell is routed by
a Confederate army under General Pierre G.T. Beauregard.
Irvin McDowell
(October 15, 1818 – May 4, 1885)
Pierre Gustave Toutant-Beauregard
(May 28, 1818 – February 20, 1893)
(FOX NEWS) – On this day in history, June 15, 1864, Arlington
National Cemetery, our nation’s honorable military burial
ground, was officially established.
The national cemetery began with the seizure of Gen. Robert
E. Lee’s hilltop home (shown below) after he defected to the
Confederacy during the Civil War. History.com.
Robert Edward Lee
(January 19, 1807 – October 12, 1870)
Sgt. William H. Carney was the first African American to be
awarded the Medal of Honor, the nation’s highest military
decoration, on this day in history, May 23, 1900, for his
efforts at protecting the American flag during the Civil War.
History.com.
Born as a slave in February of 1840, William Carney’s father
managed to escape and make his way north via the
Underground Railroad, ultimately earning the funds to
purchase his wife and son’s freedom.
On November 19, 1863, at the dedication of a military
cemetery at Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, during the
American Civil War, President Abraham Lincoln
delivered one of the most memorable speeches in
American history. In fewer than 275 words, Lincoln
brilliantly and movingly reminded a war-weary public
why the Union had to fight, and win, the Civil War.
The Battle of Gettysburg, fought some four months
earlier, was one of the single bloodiest battle of the
Civil War. Over the course of three days, more than
45,000 men were killed, injured, captured or went
missing.
The battle also proved to be the turning point of the war:
General Robert E. Lee’s defeat and retreat from Gettysburg
marked the last Confederate invasion of Northern territory
and the beginning of the Southern army’s ultimate decline.
On November 12, 1864, Union General William T. Sherman
ordered the business district of Atlanta, Georgia, destroyed
before he embarked on his famous March to the Sea.
When Sherman captured Atlanta in early September 1864,
he knew that he could not remain there for long.
His tenuous supply line ran from Nashville, Tennessee,
through Chattanooga, Tennessee, then one hundred miles
through mountainous northern Georgia.
The army he had just defeated, the Army of Tennessee, was
still in the area and its leader, John Bell Hood, swung around
Atlanta to try to damage Sherman’s lifeline. Of even greater
concern was the Confederate cavalry of General Nathan
Bedford Forrest, a brilliant commander who could strike
quickly against the railroads and river transports on which
Sherman relied.
Atlanta’s Union Station Destroyed by The Union Army.
A Bank Lay in Ruins After The Battle and Occupation of
Atlanta.
